Two months ago, New York's governor told the city to "pause". But New Yorkers, despite hunkering down at home, did not follow this rule in their personal lives.
Friends and acquaintances adopted an ambitious routine: Wake up at sunrise, go jogging, eat breakfast, work, homeschool the children, read a chapter in a book, bake bread, finish a novel, begin a new novel, talk with friends and family, and cap off the day with a Zoom party.
I caught the productivity virus as well. I decided to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and to dedicate noon to working out and the evening to reading. I even bought a book to learn Russian. If I set aside an hour a day, when the lockdown is lifted I would be able to chat with the lady at the Russian deli in Brighton Beach, I thought to myself.
I started the corona routine with a lot of enthusiasm but soon enough, months had passed. Of course, I haven't written every single day. At times, when I would sit down and write it would already be midnight. And rather than do pushups I would read another chapter in the book. And the Russian? Well, I can say good morning. There is still a long way to go before I can order lox.
I have begun feeling that I am slacking off, not really focused on my goals. That I am, er, lazy perhaps? The very thought of this word gives me angst. Laziness, especially in New York, is the mother of all sins. Everyone has to be multitasked: go to the new restaurant and burn calories at CrossFit; work long hours, and then to wake up at six for meditation.
And most importantly, everyone is busy being busy. When you meet a friend at a bar, you talk about how there is no more time to drink coffee. Half of the time in work meetings is dedicated to setting up the next meeting, and if you want to set up a date with a friend, you have to do so a week in advance. As if the coronavirus was not enough, the residents of the city are sick with the plague of "doing stuff" and are exhausted with the race up the socioeconomic ladder. The city doesn't stop the emails keep coming day and night, and there is no pause. Not even during a pandemic.
What is all this productivity worth if we are always busy being busy? Perhaps it's better to just be lazy. Laziness is usually defined through the negation of something, the "not-doing" of something.
That is a mistake. Laziness is a pro-active thing you do to create some free time. The word for school in ancient Greece was derived from the word free time. The Greeks understood that a person needs some space for not doing anything for a specific gain so that he or she can focus on what they consider important and develop their potential.
The lockdown has opened my eyes: I don't have anywhere to run, and I have nothing pressing to get done. I can watch Netflix in the middle of the day. That is the meaning of laziness, in a good sense. Being lazy is almost a subversive thing in a society that sanctifies production and consumerism. It means that you are not enslaved to replicating the experiences of others, but grow your own personal experience with yourself.
But this is no small feat. Laziness requires seriousness. Thus, I have begun being focused on laziness: not getting to anything, putting an emphasis on the enjoyment in things I do. It doesn't matter if this is little, even if it's just to say "good morning, this fish please."
